A Certain Hyperdimensional Nepgear
by ars.204
Summary: 13 years has passed since Nepgear's attempt to stop the Deity of Sin's rise. She now presides all 4 nations, doing her best to maintain order and avoid all conflict. But with peace comes stagnation, and stagnation beckons the return of a demon who once haunted Gamindustri. To save the world and take back what she lost, an unimaginable burden awaits...
1. Prologue

Nepgear looked up at the sky.

It was the same as ever. The same, hollow expanse. Yet it wasn't. The blue sky felt darker, the sunlight's radiance weaker, the wind's breeze colder.

Lastation.

Lowee.

Leanbox.

One by one, the Goddesses fell. Following Noire's valliant example, the sword would come to take the lives of everyone who mattered.

But that was fine.

She could take the weight of that burden.

A life without her new friends. No Uni. No Rom, no Ram.

But that was fine, if it at least meant that she could save the people around her with her beloved sisters.

Ah yes.

Her sister.

The lazy, incoherent, hyperactive, ever-supportive, always cheerful, loving, caring girl who served as one of the most powerful and admirable CPUs she has ever known.

They both strived to protect one another.

But, ultimately, Nepgear couldn't overcome her sister's goodwill.

Thus, with a sickening slash, Gehaburn pierced Neptune's fragile body.

 _And now…?_

And now…she was well and truly alone.

A warm lump rapidly rose through her throat as she relived the vivid memories. She felt a heavy tug at her heart, the overwhelming yearning, the sheer weight of the responsibility on her shoulders.

Stood at the end of this blood soaked path, the Gehaburn now useless, Nepgear slowly understood the meaning behind the Deity of Sin's words.

She turned her dulled, pink eyes gazing out over Gamindustri's peaceful horizon, ignoring the stunning view that she once desired to protect with all her heart.

 _I did it, sister._

Her eyes, devoid of life, began to water.

 _I did it. An era of peace. No more strife. No more conflict._

A chilling breeze rushed past her beaten body. Her senses tingled. The tickling sensation resonated with her trembling, lonely heart.

 _No more territorial disputes. No competition to decide the best goddess. No more misunderstandings. No more bickering with Uni. No more being accused of bullying. No more pestering Neptune to work. No more…anything._

The gales strengthened. With a soft push from the wind, Nepgear's shaky legs buckled. Her body collapsed into a pitiful heap on the grassy plains, the tips of the grass sliced at the roughened skin of her tired limbs.

 _Sister…I did it…will you come back…?_


	2. Chapter 1

Gamindustri, in the era after the ASIC crisis, was largely regarded as a period of peace. Peaceful coexistence between the annexed states of Lastation, Lowee and Leanbox was miraculously accepted by the masses, thanks in no small part to Gamindustri's goddess, Nepgear.

Yet, one could equally argue that, as a result of this peace and lack of rivalry, Gamindustri as a whole has stagnated. All competition ceased, and with it, all hope of rapid technological progress. Simply put, society may on the surface have seemed fine with the sudden change in power structure, but the underlying suffering of stagnation was rapidly becoming a prominent issue.

No progress.

No resolution.

Life under Nepgear's planeptune slowly ground to a halt as the penny dropped for most people. Questions, important ones, ones that were neglected in the shallow anticipation for peace began to surface.

Some thirteen years after the expansion of Planeptune, Nepgear looked down from the top of the highest tower, her eyes morbidly ignoring the stunning view.

She knew this was inevitable. One day, the world will realise. Hence she tried, harder than anyone else, to maintain the status quo. If she was really lucky, the truth would be dismissed as slandering lies produced by disgruntled citizens.

 _But that'd be too easy, wouldn't it..?_

As the young goddess gripped the metallic railing with a trembling sigh, the refined sound of the towering, opened door behind her being knocked on brought her back attention back to reality.

"May I have a moment of your time, Nepgear?"

"Ah, Kei…" Without turning around to face her oracle, Nepgear greeted her. "Don't tell me…did we just lose more shares?"

"Yes. We've lost shares for the third month straight, some 10% down this month. If this decline continues-"

"It won't. I'll fix it."

"I have every confidence you will, but-"

"I just said I'd fix it, so won't you leave it to me? Or has it reached the point where even my oracles no longer believe in me?"

With a dismissive reply, Nepgear began her slow retreat back to the confines of her office. Her every step on the marble tiles made a hollow echo through the grand workplace, the sterile silence making her solitary march all the more lonely.

Elegantly sliding into her arm chair, she briefly stared at her immaculate desk, moments before the papers flooded in. The equipment neatly laid out on it were taken from the desks of her former friends, rivals and allies. In other words, they were most likely the last remaining traces of Lastation, Lowee and Leanbox in existence. These heavy thoughts would weigh her down every time she touched this table. It served as an unforgettable reminder to her, of the people who had paved her path, and even laid their lives down for it. All to satisfy her rash, immature whim.

As Nepgear ran her finger along the letters proudly engraved onto the stationary, she felt a familiar ache wrench at her heart. It hurt. Extremely so. So much so, she felt the strength leave her limbs. With a small smile, she embraced this crippling longing.

 _To be able to smile like this…even when I'm suffering as I am…_

She sighed, disgusted by the thought that she could still consider self-pity a possibility for herself. She had chosen this path. Out of all solutions, she had selected the path of conquest. The bloodiest, most painful path.

 _I'm so messed up…_

"Kei…"

"Yes, Nepgear?"

"Bring in the papers."

Watching her stoic secretary walk in with the same, remarkable stack of documents, Nepgear reached for her pen.

 _Ahh…let's go through the motions today as well…_

* * *

"...And done."

With a fatigued sigh, the young girl dropped her pen some hours after she first sat down.

"Good work as always, Nepgear."

An encouraging reply came from behind the tall stack of paperwork that slowly lumbered towards her.

"You're joking, right?"

"Hmm?"

"Put those down, Kei. I'm not touching that pile any time soon, so save your breath."

Nepgear arced back and reached to the skies, feeling the blood circulate through her stiff body. Casually turning her head to the tall panes of light purple glass which made up the walls of the top floor, she suddenly stood up.

Watching a sole dove circle the glass tower before diving down into the abyss that was the city below, a question crept into Nepgear's mind.

"Say Kei…"

"Yes, Nepgear?"

"How much are you and the others hiding from me?"

Her eyes trying to keep up with the dove's flight, Nepgear casually let her deepest concerns slip from her mouth.

"I don't for a second believe that, after such a leadership, the only thing that fell was shares. If I alone could outperform four CPUs…"

Kei stood without a word and averted her gaze.

"So…can I hear the truth? Can I know the actual state of…this nation? Or do I need to step out, see how bad things have become for myself, for the first time in goodness knows how long?"

With an irritated sigh, Kei nodded and began speaking.

"I'll brief you simply, a full explanation is just inefficient and will serve only to ruin what lingering optimism you have left. The economy's just falling apart with the drop in shares, the lack of new games only serve to prevent a recovery. The long awaited 8th generation consoles and the endless 'delays' just cause public morale to continue its spiral downwards. Also, the riots have been harder and harder to silence-"

"…Riots?"

"Yes. It's one thing when the old conservative uncles, drunk on cheap booze, calls you out for changing their way of life as you did, but this isn't the case. No one is sharing this vision with you anymore, not after what they see it actually being."

Nepgear coolly strutted towards the translucent walls of the tower, casting her gaze down at the city below. Even from afar, she could tell, it was no longer the same city, the same nation that she had come to love. With the total loss of the previous chemistry, the happy-go-lucky spirit had been sucked out of the people, slowly but surely. It was reflected in the way the balance of power was so totally shifted towards Planeptune. As Nepgear's position strengthened over time, more and more shares poured into the district directly under her control. It was only matter of time before the line was evidently drawn in the sand.

What remained?

The goddess stared out indifferently at a small dividing border, running along the length of her capitol. Directly beyond it lay the crumbling ruins of former superpowers, now home to countless slums and the black market. In the width of a two lane street, such a disparity between qualities of life could be seen.

She had, effectively, plundered her former rivals' territory for the good of her own nation. This was the true face of her rule.

 _So what?_

 _Why try to hide it from me?_

"…As if I didn't know it from the start."

In a pitifully quiet voice, she uttered her bitter retort.

* * *

A crack of thunder roared through the grey skies of a long abandoned no man's land. Spiralling out from nowhere, the ground began to crumble. A vivid, orange glow flowed through the rapidly spreading cracks. Within seconds, the climate had adapted itself to suit this post-apocalyptic environment. Howling gales swept through the land, spreading the suffocating heat far and wide. The air was dry, the sky a murky black smear.

Within this cauldron of nightmarish weather, a shadow slowly emerged.

"This time…there will be no escape."


	3. Chapter 2

_I'll protect Gamindustri, and unite everyone under me to strive for a happy future!_

Such a thought always drove her forwards in the early years of her rule. For the sake of her lost friends, they would have to seek out a happiness greater than experienced before.

 _...So how did it end up this way...?_

60%

55%

53%

Slowly but surely, the shares slipped away with each passing day.

It wasn't always like this. Until recently, the shares would fall at on monthly, sometimes even yearly basis. But it was not to last.

Nepgear stood and watched the graph's sharpening decline towards zero. It had become a pastime of sorts. Everyday, when the day's work was completed, she would bring up this graph and lose herself in this comforting despair.

There was nothing she could do. She could only watch as her empire slipped away.

 _Sister..._

Her heart defaulted to seeking guidance from Neptune.

 _Ah...why would I ask you, of all people..._

A fond smile spread on her dejected face.

 _You...of all people...who couldn't run this place if your life depended on it-_

 _You...who gave your life for this..._

Yet another sensation surged through her body. It burst up from her heart, flooded its way up her throat and stabbed at the back of her eyes. Her body resonated with this emotion, trembling and shaking as the strength left her body.

It was painful.

Excruciating.

Inhumane.

She wanted to cry, to vomit out this bitter resentment, to throw herself into the world's abuse. She wanted to do something, _anything at all_ , to atone for her sin.

Yet, she also knew, witnessing the demise of her home, unable to save it and only able to hasten its downfall, being forced to watch her world imploded...

 _What better atonement could there be...?_

Nepgear smiled a small, frail smile and swallowed.

"Nepgear!"

Two or three voices collectively called out to her from behind. Exact location and identities of these voices were too vague to make out. She was too surprised. The urgency behind these calls, they struck a chord with her, and the clotting wound in her heart began to tear.

 _Don't call me with that voice…with so much energy…_

Images, memories, in a split second, emotions and experiences she had long since covered up rushed back to her. Feelings that she had tried so desperately to forget, that she had isolated herself from in order to become the perfect Goddess, they surged back into her mind relentlessly. Neptune's cheerful smile, the carefree days they'd spend together, the times spent hiding away from their duties, it was in that moment that she truly realised once again.

 _The one who lost that fight…_

The one fact that she had denied, the one false victory that is so widely celebrated now…

 _…Was me…wasn't it?_

"Nepgear!"

"…Hmm?"

Struggling to keep the overflowing memories in check, Nepgear hid her face in the shadow of her long bangs.

"As you should know,there's been an anomaly of sorts forming at the geographical center of Gamindustri." Kei's stoic voice began its briefing without a second's delay. "Sections of land are being split apart and redivided, following the borders of the old nations."

Histoire picked up from the lingering silence, delivering increasingly accurate information to Nepgear's ears. Information which she had long since figured out by herself, but had all along denied its possibilities.

"The newly formed landmass bears a striking resemblance to the land that was once lost to the sea over a decade ago."

"In other words…"

"The graveyard is back."

"...And so is the Deity of Sin."

These words, predictable as they were, shattered Nepgear's will in a single blow.

 _Ah..._

Her return only meant one thing.

 _...What then...was all the bloodshed for...?_

 _Why...what did they all die for...?_

A complete defeat.

That was what it was.

Not a triumph of goodwill. Not a false victory.

She had lost everything. The moment she placed the fate of the world in that sword, it marked the start of her slow, painful defeat.

Nepgear's heart and mind plunged into an even worse state of despair. The conversation continued around her, despite none of it being processed as anything beyond background noise.

"Campaigning would actually be the right word to use in this situation. She re emerged, selling herself the person to restore the old order."

"...No doubt, that's the work of their lapdog from before. But is anyone buying it.."

"They will."

The dejected goddess finally joined the discussion.

"Under such pathetic rule...I would too. In a heartbeat."

Without a hint of hesitation, she denied the possibility of any trust in her that their people may have.

"The question is...well, it's not really a question at all." Nepgear continued her empty monologue. "'What are we going to do'…if this still needs answering, you have no right to stand here as one of my oracles. The real question is, 'who's coming with me?'"

A reluctant silence spread through the spacious office, the deathly lack of noise seemed to echo off the walls.

"Come on. Tell me before I resort to bloodshed on an unprecedented scale again."

Still shocked by her sudden change in mood, the oracles all stood in stunned silence, unable to respond.

"…Histoire." Finally looking at her oracles eye to eye, Nepgear called out to the floating fairy with a commanding voice. "I'll need all the help I can get. Come along with me."

"You seemed to have forgotten, I don't do com-"

"I don't care. I just need you there. A peace of mind, think of it like that."

"To ask me to enter a battlefield this hostile just because you feel scared…I see no reason why I should play along."

"You sure about that, Histoire? The fate of Planeptune is possibly hanging in the balance and the CPU is requesting for you to accompany her into battle for reassurance sake. If I fail, can you really handle the responsibility? Can you really call yourself Planeptune's oracle and stay seated on your floating book, arms crossed and ambivalent to it all?"

"Yes, I think I can. If I go with you, who will manage Planeptune's daily administrative tasks? Also, as someone with no combat ability, entering a stand off with unquestionably the most powerful opponent ever encountered is akin to signing my death warrant. Beyond being an oracle, I am first and foremost responsible for recording Gamindustri's history in its entirety. Could _you_ uphold that responsibility, if something were to happen to me?"

"…Tsk."

"Stop being a child."

Kei, unable to stand this conversation any longer, gave her blunt reply.

"I guess it was still too much to expect for you to act independent, even after so long. I should have known at the time, but it does seem like placing my trust in you to be a goddess was a dire mistake. Little girl, if you still need us to hold your hand in a fight, then this world is far too dangerous a place for you. I rarely regret, but you're becoming my first and biggest one."

Nepgear's serious glare suddenly softened, the power behind them completely dissolving as Kei's words made her realise the irrational nature of her demand.

"I-I'm…sorry…"

Her arrogant voice now a barely audible tremble, Nepgear's façade started to crumble.

"Histoire…I don't have anyone to turn to anymore. IF and Compa are doing so well, living out their lives without me, and I've already broken contact with everyone else from that time…I don't have the confidence to walk out there anymore. I have no will to fight, only the immeasurable pressure to strive for some phony peace…"

Seeing the brief glimmer of rebellion within Nepgear beaten by her rebuttal, Histoire could only sigh, resigning to Nepgear's side and await her orders.

"I swear, sometimes, I spoil you too much. Far more than I would have ever done with your sister, at any rate…"

The goddess then turned her attention to Kei, who had stood silently with her usual, military-esque discipline.

"Kei. I'll entrust Planeptune to you. I know you've become quite good at fighting, but you're still far more capable of slaughtering stacks of paperwork. You've never actually acknowledge me as a proper goddess anyway, so you have at it. Besides, the boss battles are reserved for the main characters, aren't they?"

"Mhm." Cooly accepting the immense responsibilities placed on her, Kei nodded in turn. "Likewise, I expect nothing less than for your performance to completely restore confidence to this regime."

As the three girls quickly exchanged a brief farewell, Kei cast her gaze over to the pitch black haze on the horizon.

"…For Planeptune, and all its people's interests, we'll be putting our faith in you."

Seeing the flashes of lightning streak out towards the pale blue skies beyond the reach of the Graveyard, Kei allowed her stoic expression to soften into a confident smirk.

"…'Purple heart.'"

* * *

The cursed sword Gehaburn.

The sword capable of defeating even the greatest of evils iif its user was prepared to commit the dire sin of slaying a CPU. The more blood spilt, the greater its power, and the greater the evil it can slay.

Unlike most of Nepgear's equipment, this sword is locked away. Far away from the public eyes. The proud display of weapons which line the Neptower's halls are a far too dangerous place for such a blade. It would seem obvious, but to the shaken and naive public, they were only too willing to uphold it as a symbol of the people's power. Demands were made in their hundreds of thousands to place it on display. Naturally, all were turned down. The legend of this sword have spread far and wide. Stories of the Malice Sword, the CPU Killer, Gamidustri's Excalibur have become akin to folklore.

This was the sword which fought Gamindustri's unsung war.

A sword that demanded Nepgear's utmost respect, yet was the image of her very nightmares.

That was what it was.

Standing faced towards a tall chamber door, deep in the heart of the Neptower, Nepgear firmed her resolve. Whatever the past had been, despite how heavily it weighs on her, she had to move on. The crisis had resurfaced, and to combat it, she needed every drop of energy to do so.

 _Now's not the time to cry about the past…!_

With this determined thought, Nepgear pushed the towering doors open, and stepped into the purple void that was the Gehaburn's storage chamber.

The sight that greeted her eyes was surreal. The sword was exactly as she had imagined, exactly as she had left it. Its fine tip pointed to the ground, its deep, purple aura, nothing had changed since that day. Its blade was still wet, and pooled at its tip was still the blood of its sacrifices. She had made it imperative that, as an everlasting tribute to her forerunners, none of it would be cleaned off.

"Histoire…"

Nepgear called out absentmindedly to the fairy as she slowly extended her hand to the black hilt of the sword.

"You know, not so long ago…I really didn't want to be a goddess. Or rather, I'd always wanted to stay in awe at Neptune. If it's for maintaining the peace she gave her life for, if it's for her sake…"

As her monologue continued, a pink shimmer gradually blossomed from around her. It repelled the sword's vivid violet light, instead enveloping Nepgear's body in a dazzling white. Over her smooth white skin, a tight fitting layer of grey rapidly spread across her torso. From behind her back, a pair of wings, equally grey and double their normal size stretched out.

"Then I'll become stronger than she's ever been…"

Completing the transformation, she swiftly drew the cursed sword from its mountings, feeling the weight of the blade in her hands.

"Transformation: complete. Purple sis...no. Purple heart, ready for combat."

 _First time in thirteen years. Look, Neptune. Look at me. This new generation, the new Purple Heart. Praise me...like you always did. I'm now more powerful than you could ever be. More shares than you could ever have, more dangerous than you could have ever been..._

Gripping the hilt of the Gehaburn, she steadily hovered forward.

 _I...did the right thing, right?_

With increasing uncertainty, Nepgear's grip tightened. The cursed sword seemed to respond to her, its metallic purple surface pulsing and shimmering more as her grip firmed.

 _It doesn't matter. If it's not right..._ _This sword_ _, with its power...I'll set everything straight in one blow!_

Feeling the warmth of both the sword's aura and the collective strength of Gamindustri's shares, she finally let out a small smile.

"Nepgear…"

Having watched the transformation take place, Histoire whispered in awe. It was rare, a situation such as this. A state where one CPU held so much of the world's share at any given time. Even without those who had lost trust in her, Nepgear's body glowed with the countless hopes and dreams on her shoulders. In her long, extensive log of Gamindustri's history, the choices of solutions that CPUs were presented in times of crisis were often similar. Many had valued their camaraderie above a quick, sure fire solution. Few didn't.

 _Those who didn't…Those who walked this bloody path…_

"Yes?"

With her gentle smile gaining confidence, with her body glowing brighter with each second, Histoire couldn't bring herself to express her concerns.

"Nothing. Let's strike while the iron's hot. Your current form won't last. Settle this swiftly."

 _At the end of Conquest's path, without fail, lies only insanity._

An image of Nepgear's face flashed in Histoire's mind. Moments before she announced the Graveyard's return, she had caught sight of Nepgear, lost in thought.

Nepgear's cold, distant eyes, filled with infinite regret and dead with despair.

 _Nepgear…perhaps, you too, have reached that point…?_


	4. Chapter 3

Nepgear rushed through the thundering clouds, her wings streaking the dull, black sky with its grey glow. Looking down at the wasteland below her, she couldn't help but let the depressing monotony of the repetitive landscape bring her mood down.

 _If it wasn't for me..._

 _If they were still here..._

 _N-No! Not now!_

"Depressing sight, isn't it?"

Histoire's soft voice whispered to her from over her shoulder.

"Don't think too much about it, Nepgear. Although it may be obvious, but I have every confidence in you. Just do as you did before, take the fight right to her."

Nepgear turned her gaze away from the ground, focusing instead on the pitch black storm some miles ahead of her. At her altitude, her line of sight allowed her to peer into the eye of the storm. Inside it, a distinct purple and red smudge stood at its center.

Feeling Gehaburn's weight as she towed it by its hilt beneath her bolstered her wavering resolve. Nepgear glanced down one last time, readying her approach. She circled behind the storm, making the most of her altitude advantage. With a final sigh, the goddess gripped her sword. The grey streak in the sky banked sharply, spiralling down into the eye of the storm.

"Let's dive into the fireworks!"

Under the cover of the clouds, Nepgear plunged into the darkness. As her downward charge rapidly gained momentum, she felt the pressure crush down on her streamlined body. Her eyes were struggling to keep focused onto her target. The drag from her wings tugged at her back, her hands shook increasingly as Gehaburn carved through the air, stabilizing her as the winds tried time and again to knock her off course.

"How pathetic."

At the heart of the storm, a sole figure laughed.

Levitating at a comfortable distance from the ground, the figure retained its composure and expanded its folded, mechanical wings. Without even turning to face the grey streak charging towards her, she emotionlessly withdrew a weapon from her side. A spear, crimson as blood, stretching up to her full height. Pointing one of its two blades at the ground, the spear suddenly fired into the cracked surface.

"Be gone."

All hell had broken loose.

The ground beneath her had completely ceased to exist. In its place, a pool of silver liquid boiled and churned. With a second strike into the ground, silver spears shot out from the pool, firing off salvo after salvo without pause. Encircling her, the debris kicked up by the second blast were also directed towards the rapidly closing target. In the skies that made up the storm, the periodic flashes in the clouds began homing in.

Nepgear suddenly broke off from her steep dive. An explosion of unknown magnitude had just occurred and the smoke and dust from it had masked her target entirely. From within the dense plume of black and grey, countless breaks punctured through. Seeing the incoming fire, Nepgear swiftly resumed her attack.

Spearing into the barrage, Nepgear gritted her teeth. Her blue eyes glowed, the grey trailing behind her brightened. She hunkered down, concentrating all her energy into raising her speed. The blunt pain of the shifting winds impacting on her body was agonising, but tolerable. As speed increased, the strain on her limbs and mind followed. She had only one chance to evade the incoming fire and then deliver her killing blow.

The silver and brown of the projectiles were now finally visible. Ever so gently, they began grouping together, all vying for a direct hit at their small target. Their formation began resembling that of a triangle, with their razor sharp tips all pointed squarely at Nepgear's head. The distance between the two sides was rapidly diminishing.

Staring straight into the melee, she steeled her nerves.

 _Deep breath…_

With fear and anticipation rising through her body, Nepgear counted down in her heart, timing her next move. The distance was now barely a kilometer. The sight before her eyes was surreal. Her senses tingled, the danger exuding from the countless points ahead of her stirred up the adrenaline within her to a new climax.

 _Now…!_

Eye to eye with the first of countless more projectiles, Nepgear smiled defiantly. She arched her back, exposing the Gehaburn's glowing blade from beneath her. Concentrating all her energy into the sword, Nepgear threw an upward slash as she brought herself to a sudden stop.

A blinding white glint flashed in the low skies above the battlefield. A stream of heat permeating from the blade cut through the crude weapon before her. The heat wave pushed forward, the boiling intensity erasing the barrage from the sky. It vaporised all incoming fire, buckled the crumbling ground, cleared away all cover.

From her position in the sky, Nepgear eyed her now completely exposed opponent. Stood in the center of the crater formed by the Gehaburn's strike was a slender figure. Clad in the same purple armor from before, it was certainly a familiar sight. However, it barely resembled its past self, losing the giant angular beast which used to make up most of the Diety's body.

"Hmph. So much for a strong defense. Even at boss battles, defenses can all be vapourised by a single swing of the sword."

With an irritated grunt, Nepgear slashed at the air in front of her.

"Is that her, Histoire? She's a lot smaller than I remember…"

"…M-Most likely, she's concentrated her remaining energy into that final form…N-Nepgear…can I have a moment?"

Replying in a feeble voice, the tiny fairy clutched at the slippery latex on Nepgear's back.

"Goodness…Is this a bit too fast for you? Just bear with it for another minute…I'll settle things right here!"

Once more Nepgear swung her sword. In a flash, Histoire was left floating above the goddess' afterimage. A whisp of wind, rather, a sudden vacuum formed beneath her. Almost instantaneously, yet another explosion shook the ground. Left hanging in mid-air, the oracle could only gape dumbstruck.

No smalltalk. No mercy.

Nepgear attacked. Time and time again, without pause. Her movements were beyond visual recognition. As far as anyone was concerned, all that had happened was a gale had blown before the ground crumbled yet again. Sparks flew. The wind blew again. The ground collapsed yet again. The Deity of Sin sank further into the ground, her two feet now buried at ankle height, unable to move.

It was a ruthless, mechanical process, executed without hesitation. She would attack from one direction, dodge the rushed attack from the spear, kick off the ground, slash the target on her way out. Flank around. Repeat the process.

She ignored the howling pain from her limbs. She ignored the splattering liquids on her clothing. Her ears were deaf to the cries from her victim, her heart rejecting any form of sympathy. Nepgear's frenzied assault would continue so long as she was physically capable of kicking off the ground. All sense of time had vanished. With each strike, Nepgear's purple blade left an even darker afterimage. With each strike, she placed more strength in the following attack.

 _Why are you still fighting?_

Eyes fixed on a new target, Nepgear lunged forwards once more. In a clean slash, she sheared off one end of the spear. Throwing her weight backwards, she brought the sword around as she continued her dance at point blank range. Yet another slash. Clean through the left wing, barely missing a limb. Graze the broken edge of the spear. Back in front of her helpless victim.

 _Why won't you just die?!_

Staggering to a halt, Nepgear stood a safe distance from the dust cloud before her. Her legs could barely balance her. Her wings now only acted as dead weight, pulling her down. Every nerve in her body was alert, every muscle in her body stressed beyond their limits.

 _One blow should have done it. If it was a game, her HP bar should have long been vaporised. How can she still stand…? How…when the sword's drawn blood from the width of her torso…how can this fight still continue…?!_

Eyes losing focus, body rapidly overheating, Nepgear forced her screaming body to remain upright. The dust finally faded into the distance. Without so much as looking at the Deity of Sin, the goddess prepared for another attack.

Gehaburn's purple glow had now become nearly pure black, with only traces of violet lingering in its aura. The strength of the feedback Nepgear felt, the overwhelming desire to destroy that seemed to flood into her body from the hilt, it slowly polluted her will to fight.

 _I sacrificed so much…So much that was so very dear to me…all to bring you down. Take this, and just disappear for good!_

The dense black aura surrounding the sword began to recceed, slowly revealing its simplistic design. Its purple blade gleamed in what little light there was, giving off an even more destructive killing intent.

Nepgear adjusted her positioning. She bent her knees slightly, assuming a lower, more aggressive stance. From her side, the black aura blossomed once more at the hilt of her sword. It circled at the base briefly, seemingly concentrating all its energy into one point before entwining itself with the purple blade.

Finally fixing her eyes onto her target, Nepgear kicked off the ground. The pitch black stream behind her flashed. A sudden burst of energy erupted from the blade, its surge rippled violently through her body. With an indistinct roar from her side, the aura surrounding the sword thrusted Nepgear forward.

There was no reaction.

Planting her foot into the ground, Nepgear pivoted around, bringing the tip of the blade to bear. In the split second she materialised in front of the Deity of Sin, Nepgear had corrected her aim. With the momentum still forcing her body forwards, she thrusted forwards once more. The Gehaburn discharged its obsidian sheath, dissolving the purple plate amidst the sea of darkness. A clean hole had been burnt into the thick protection covering the Deity of Sin's heart. All that remained beneath was her ghostly white skin. Fighting the recoil, Nepgear gritted her teeth and plunged the sword downward.

"Game…OVER!"

A soft sensation reached her arms.

Or so, she was expecting.

Like sand, the Gehaburn's blade crumbled on contact. The edges suddenly dulled and cracked, the vivid violet shimmered one last time before fading away.

 _W-W…what?_

Stunned, Nepgear fell forward as her momentum brought her to her knees.

 _The sword that could slay all evil…the sword everything was sacrificed for…_

Seconds after the Gehaburn fell apart, so too did Nepgear.

Everything she loved, everything she lost, everything she strived to protect.

This sword embodied it all.

 _S-So…what…does this mean…?_

As her body fell, she felt a gale rush towards her. A matte purple blur briefly entered her fading field of vision before her world vanished entirely.

A dull thud impacted her back, accompanied by a sickening crunch. Before she could truly register the degree of pain forming from her shattered bones and ruptured blood vessels, her consciousness had long since faded.

"…A worthy attempt, had you not gotten carried away by your desire to destroy. The embodiment of destruction cannot be overpowered by more of the same."

The Deity of Sin held out its slowly regenerating hand over Nepgear's fallen body. The faint blue light surrounding the goddess rapidly faded as it was transferred to the remains of a torn mechanical wing. The same blue energy materialised all over her, repairing the withering damage Nepgear had inflicted onto her body and her weaponry.

"Now…you…and this world, will be granted a swift end."

The spear fired down the cracks in the ground, burning a path through the packed earth.

"Perish."

* * *

Nepgear opened her eyes.

A pitch black void greeted her.

She looked around.

Nothing.

No left, no right. No up nor down. She could be upside down or standing at an angle, she couldn't tell.

 _How am I standing anyway?_

As this thought passed through her mind, her memories came flooding back.

The feeling of Gehaburn crumbling in her hands, the blunt, immobilising pain she felt as she fell, they all hit her at the same time.

 _…Ah…_

Gehaburn was gone. The ultimate weapon. Her only crutch. The one thing that willed her to fight. Despite its hateful nature, she understood better than anyone what it symbolised.

A familiar, heart wrenching hollowness filled her trembling body. The feeling of loss. It was so distant, yet so painfully etched into her heart.

 _"You are all alone in this world."_

Once upon a time…a deep, monotone voice uttered those words.

 _"Your friends, your family."_

By the sound of thunder, the truth was silenced.

 _"You killed them all."_

She looked down at her hands. Nothing could be seen. Flexing her fingers, she mimicked her grip on the sword.

 _…And now…?_

Surrounded so completely by darkness made the eerie aura of the Malice Sword a warmly welcomed alternative. In the claustrophobic void that stretched out so far, yet felt so hemmed in, the reality suddenly dawned on Nepgear.

 _What would they say…what would they feel…What was their sacrifice for?!_

The legacy of this generation…there would be none. Her rage, her anguish, her tears, they too would not last the test of time.

Nepgear was to blame.

 _"A world that would stagnate and rot, huh…"_

She couldn't help but smile. Her thin lips forced upwards as the truth of those words settled in. Her smile was hollow, wry. Her eyes dulled as she stared into the void.

 _"What of a century, a millennium from now?"_

 _Hah…I lost this empire in merely a decade…so what of it? What does one expect…from the failure that remained?_

Scenes from the past. Scenes she had long since forgotten suddenly re-emerged. Bloodied battlefields, a path dripping crimson from start to finish, the utter lie of an universally accepted union under Nepgear's rule.

More than rule by single entity, she had bent and torn the will of Gamindustri to her agenda.

There was no one to blame but herself.

There will be no one to blame but herself.

No matter the time, no matter the place, Nepgear had imposed her ideals onto the world and shaped it accordingly.

"This is the end of your path."

The monotone voice echoed.

"A path where no more blood could be spilt, paved by showering the world in it."

She couldn't tell the distance.

"This is your work. All of it."

Nepgear snapped around.

Nothing was around her. Nothing. It was the same void, the same pitch black expanse that had become her world.

"This is your legacy, Nepgear."

Stepping out from the shadow, a white silhouette finally broke up the monotonous darkness.

"S-sister?"

Nepgear reached out, trying to grab hold of the indistinct figure in front of her. Her hands reached, yet they held nothing. The eerie sensation of her fingers passing through the ghostly white froze her despairing heart. Neptune's white shadow dissipated, floating apart as smaller clumps of white lingered in the landscape.

"Embrace it, this peaceful world…It's what you wanted…right?"

With these parting words, the remaining white slowly faded into the infinite void, growing ever fainter, ever weaker.

Nepgear faced the empty void.

Once more, darkness fell.

It ate away at her.

Her existence.

Her life.


	5. Chapter 4

"I'm sorry it had to be this way…"

A mature voice spoke out, tainted with regret.

Nepgear stared at the sky above her, stunned silent.

Her field of vision was dyed a mild crimson. Her eyes stung slightly, agitated by the thick veneer of blood that seemed to streak her face. Under the scarlet moon, she gazed up at the figure hovering above her as its purple details faded in and out of focus.

Black overalls. Slits of blue light running in the seams of the clothes. Purple hair.

"N-Nep…tune…"

Barely able to contain her shock, Nepgear could only stutter so much.

She couldn't move. Her arms were pinned down. Her legs were tired and bloodied. Watching her sister's purple sword dance in the sky, the fear in her heart seemed to only escalate. The sword's glittering afterimage, the gales from the displaced air that swept by her messy hair with each taunting swing.

"This ends here."

The teasing stopped.

A blinding flash filled her vision.

The world returned to darkness.

"You have lost… candidate."

 _Huh?_

"This world…as you have known it, has come to an end."

From around Nepgear, a haunting voice made this simple statement.

"W-what do you mean?! Where is this? A cave somewhere? A dungeon?"

"Do you think the world was so convenient, that you would be brought to a place you'd have full understanding of?"

"T-Then…Where is this?! Where's the graveyard?! Where's Planeptune?!"

Her despairing cries were met with a chilling silence.

"The graveyard? Planeptune?"

The voice finally replied. Nepgear's sense of time had been completely thrown off. How long had it been? A minute? Five minutes? An hour?

She could no longer tell.

The silence was so lonesome, so demoralising and painful to endure, she honestly felt a glimmer of relief hearing the slow, haunting voice answer her. It was a voice that mocked her, almost pitied her, yet managed to feel so completely emotionless at the same time.

"What I destroyed was not merely the small landmass you call the graveyard."

The lingering silence slowly but surely spelt out the scale of destruction. In a hollow void, one where only the goddess and the Deity of Sin existed, where all else without their immense strength has perished, Nepgear slowly realised how dire the situation had become.

"N-no..."

Liar.

It had to be a lie.

It had to be. An underhand blow at her morale. A cheap deception to let the Deity recover from her wounds.

"It is the reality. You, and you alone, have brought this end upon the world."

In a seemingly disinterested voice, the Deity of Sin stated the facts with a merciless honesty. There was no one to take the blame, no words to rebut, no sword to fight back. Nepgear could only listen defenselessly to the truth.

Nepgear remained silent.

Her mind couldn't get beyond denial. She had to deny it, yet the evidence was so overwhelming, the absolute lack of… _anything_ so absolute, there was nothing for her to deny.

The world had been destroyed.

Gamindustri. Planeptune.

Everything.

"H-How is this my fault?! You just said it yourself-"

"When will you stop going through the motions?"

Nepgear's stuttering rebuttal was silenced at that.

"You have no one left to impress. No one left to deceive. Even at the world's destruction, do you insist on maintaining this pathetic façade?"

These words were left to linger in the sterile air, blocked out by Nepgear's stubborn denial. Her thinking process still ran in the same loop, denying her responsibility, blaming the Deity, only to realise what had brought its return in the first place. Her voice was caught in her throat. She could only hold what little ground she had left, running away from her situation.

"Once a goddess, always a goddess. Always the uncompromising upholder of righteousness…even if her path to power is anything but."

"You're wrong! I only did what was for the best! T-They…They all could have worked with me…but they chose not to- "

"-And you took their lives for it."

Once more, Nepgear was silenced.

"Such a wonderful, interesting being…I shall concede, my existence contributed little to the end of this world, for it was certain to reach destruction with your guidance."

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!"

Nepgear screamed.

Inside the void, her pitiful cry called out. To the lives lost for this cause, to the precious few who sympathised with her, she needed that same, comforting affirmation.

It was the only thing that kept the responsibility off her shoulders. The one thing to keep her conscience clean.

"…Is that so."

As Nepgear's ears registered those fading words which seemingly responded to her earlier cry, her surroundings were bathed in a purple and blue shimmer. Spreading far and wide, the colours soon blanketed the empty nothingness that now made up Nepgear's world.

"Let the truth be exposed then…by those who you have entrusted and betrayed…"


	6. Chapter 5

The surreal sea of colours flashed.

Blinded, Nepgear instinctively reached around in the dark. Her hands immediately touched on a surface. It was a gritty, loose surface, the dirt was fine and got into her nails. An intense relief filled her body as she savoured the bizarre serenity of having dimensions again in her life.

 _Wait…_

Her eyes still unusable, Nepgear's senses began to take in the surroundings.

The darkness her eyes saw from behind her eyelids, the lack of warmth from the rough surface that her hands touched, the scent of silicon that filled her nose…

 _Is this…?_

"You know…"

A young, chirpy voice whispered to Nepgear.

"I won't forgive anyone who bullies Rom, much less backstabbing scum like you. So please…can you very kindly…"

Nepgear opened her eyes. The air around her body seemed to be sucked away in an instant. Instinctively, she pushed her body away from this sensation.

"…DIE!"

The ground before her erupted.

With a crude explosion, a white flash buried itself into the ground, leaving a gaping crater where her body had been barely seconds earlier.

Stunned silent, Nepgear shakily watched as a gleaming white staff removed itself from the rubble. The dust and debris kicked up by the vicious impact had blurred her view, but she knew who the attacker was.

 _R-Ram?_

"Not going down so easily, huh."

As the dust settled, a small figure strutted forward. The young, childish girl had short, pink hair. Her battle gear was a fittingly cute white on pink, but there was nothing remotely cute about her smile. It was a bloodthirsty, feral grin. Her light blue eyes fixed themselves on Nepgear's shaking body, her weapon raised and ready to strike.

"I really don't see why Rom likes you so much. You're weak, self-defeating and stubborn to the end. You drag down the morale of everyone around you and even tried to use that sword on us. I really should kill you right now. That's what Blanc says to do. But, being as generous and awesome as I am, I'll give you one chance. Entertain me with your life, before I put you down!"

With a heave, Ram launched herself at Nepgear, bringing her staff down onto her prey with a roar. Nepgear quickly scrambled away, barely avoiding the staff's ever more accurate blows by diving through the narrow city streets.

 _H-How is she alive?! Where is this? What's happening?!_

Nepgear ran with all her might, ignoring the usual questions buzzing through her head. Left, right, into a building, up the stairs. First floor, second, into the corridor. Her legs were exhausted, she was completely out of breath, but the booming sounds of destruction forged its way towards her without pause.

Standing at the end of the narrow corridor, Nepgear looked back. Somehow, she had opened up the distance. Somehow, she managed to outrun a CPU. Her breathing was sharp and shallow, each breath was harsh and stabbed at her chest. Her gaze felt distant, her mind felt numb. She could barely hear anything besides her pulse and breathing. With her body feeling the strain, the battered girl bent over, desperately trying to recover her composure.

 _W-Wait._

Nepgear rested her back onto the corridor's wall, trying to let her mind process the events.

 _I…outran…a CPU. I must have, the attacks have stopped._

No.

No matter how she thought about it, it didn't make sense.

 _Ram, of all CPUs, attacked me. If it was the Lastation girls, going it alone wouldn't be unexpected…but those kids…?_

A heavy silence fell.

Hovering outside a certain abandoned building, a small shadow fixed her gaze onto the second floor. Her bright red eyes glinted in the dark skies. Out of nowhere, an oversized hammer, as white as the girl's skin and almost twice as tall, materialised into her petite hands.

Holding it directly in front of her, the girl let out a soft, almost sympathetic sigh. She then turned the hammer's edge parallel to the wall and moved out to one end of the building.

"HAAAAAAAAAHH!"

She roared at the top of her voice, her uncharacteristically masculine battle cry echoed through the narrow streets. The hammer smashed into the building's second floor with ease, cutting clean through all its supporting pillars in one sweep.

In a flash, the entirety of the second floor had been vapourized, and the majority of the building was reduced to a collapsed ruin.

 _Huh?_

Nepgear stumbled onto her feet, her vision completely disorientated.

"W…W-What the goodness was that…?"

Merely seconds ago, she was recovering from her escape inside the silent halls of an abandoned shopping mall. Now, she was on her knees staring at its remains, having been blasted out of the collapsing building as a burst of white tore it down in a single strike.

Before the dust settled, she needed to escape. With a hurried step, she placed a foot forward.

"Ah…"

A crippling pain, so strong that her voice was unable to let out a cry, coursed through her body and stabbed at her mind. She looked down at her body very slowly.

The debris from the blast had undoubtedly taken its toll on her. Even with the strength of a CPU, the pain and injuries she sustained from being battered by the falling concrete structure were beyond belief.

Her clothes were torn by the shards of flying glass, internal bleeding was almost certainly a case in various parts of her body, but she couldn't afford to mope over her wounds. Limping away, she desperately crawled into the cover of the debris.

Nepgear's mind raced frantically, trying to piece together the identity of her attacker. The white edge resembled a hammer or an axe rather than the White Sisters' staffs. That, as well as the deep bellow which accompanied it, could only point to one logical answer.

Blanc, CPU White Heart.

The most violent of CPUs had joined the hunt.

Very timidly, Nepgear tugged her beaten body through the gaps, trying to avoid the white moonlight. Even in the pitch black, she could feel claustrophobic narrowness of the path she was on.

The silence had lasted for too long.

As if in response to her thought, the stalemate was shattered in an instant by the sound of the ruins being blasted aside by Blanc's weapons.

Soundlessly, White Heart's silhouette moved towards her. She hovered towards her at a glacial pace, in no rush to end this hunt. Nepgear scuttled away as best she could, backing away from the approaching sound of crumbling concrete.

"A-Ah.."

Her hands hit against a firm surface behind her. She was well and truly cornered.

"Enough's enough."

White Heart's deep voice echoed out to her. All remaining debris before the goddess were battered aside. With each swing, the chunks of concrete that formed any sort of cover for Nepgear were knocked away. With each swing, Nepgear felt her close in. With each swing, she edged her body closer and closer to the end of the tunnel.

The helpless girl looked into White Heart's eyes, vainly searching for any hint of sympathy.

"Don't look at me like that. You might even make me feel sorry. This much, you brought onto yourself."

White heart's hands slowly arced upwards, a pale blue light formed from the center of her palm. As she slowly traced her outstretched hand down, the small orbs of light floated off her palm at short, regular intervals. By the time her hand had reached her side, the narrow alleyway was illuminated with the brilliant blue radiance. The light had spread itself out, completely encompassing Nepgear's surroundings.

"Pretty, isn't it? This light."

Nepgear swallowed hard. She didn't know what to expect, only that whatever it would be, she won't get out of it unscathed.

"Well…admire it all you want. It'll be the last thing you'll see, after all."

Barely visible from behind the glow, White Heart's hammer swung back.

Flash.

Nepgear's eyes were once more blinded by a searing white light.

The orbs seemingly compressed into shards, with all energy concentrated on its tips. Eyes clenched shut, she could only rely on her ears and her screaming nerves to learn of her surroundings.

The pain she felt took time to register. It reached beyond the blunt pain of the impact. The sharp pain of her skin being cut, her flesh being torn, it all distorted and entwined with each other. Yet the overriding pain was doubtless from within. The confusion had yet to settle. She still didn't know _why_ they were attacking, but that didn't matter.

 _It's just that they_ _are_ … _I…did only what was best…yet…_

The hateful self-pity that had haunted her mind for so long began to rear its head once more.

 _Ah…_

Nepgear's senses were slowly returning. She still couldn't figure out her physical state, her current position, her environment…or if she was even alive or not.

 _It hurts._

The various pains running amok in her body seemed to have settled.

Or they were just forgotten in comparison with the shock.

 _So that's how it feels…to have friends turn on you. To feel betrayed..._

She felt a strange dampness run down her cheeks. It was a bitter feeling, taint with an excruciating sting from the tears running over her wounded face.

"Tsk…"

Amidst the ringing in her ears, Nepgear managed to make out White Heart's voice.

"You know…I really didn't want this. I thought I finally found someone who was on my level. Someone who understood me and my work. Shame you had to be so stubbornly fucked up to the end."

The thundering chaos in her ears had been silenced. At some point, the destruction had finally settled. Her eyes still shut tight, Nepgear lay in a heap amongst the rubble, waiting for the killing blow.

It never came.

"…H-Huh…?"

She timidly opened her eyes. The pale moonlight tickled her tired eyes, revealing the entirety of the battlefield to her. The building she had sought refuge in had all but crumbled, even the residual debris had been ground to heaps of fine dust. Yet, there was something undoubtedly missing from this scene.

"S-She's…gone…?"

In the navy blue sky of a certain abandoned city, a petite goddess hovered above a battlefield. The debris had settled and the fight was over.

It was hardly a fight to begin with. A one-sided slaughter seemed closer to the mark.

"Urgh…this really cramps my style…"

She looked down on the ruins. From directly above, her view of the ground was uninterrupted.

Slumped against the ruins, a teenage girl lay motionlessly. Her white and pink outfit had been completely ruined, her purple striped stockings torn through, with the red of her blood seeping out in large patches. Yet, what stood out most was the still visible glitter from the tears rolling off her cheeks.

Watching from above, the young girl in white grimaced.

"Hey. I don't want to put this shitty rat out of its misery. I'll have problems sleeping at night if I kill a crying child. Don't get it? You're still young, I guess. You finish the job. Don't want to…? Argh whatever, brat. Do what you want with her. I've done the lion's share of the work already anyway, just go explain it to your sister afterwards."

With a bitter sigh, White Heart relocated to the clearer skies above the desolate hunting ground.

On the ground, a small white figure quietly made her approach.

"…N-Nepgear…"

An equally small voice called out to the girl lying atop the ruins.

 _That call…such a sweet, gentle voice…I must be dreaming…_

"Nepgear…A-Are you alive…?"

 _Frankly…death is preferable…_

An indistinct rustling sound came from far beneath her. The ruins shifted slightly as the weight of the young girl was added to it. The girl's slight panting entered Nepgear's ears. Her view of the cloudless night sky was broken up by the silhouette of a young girl staring down at her.

Without even so much as a greeting, the girl slid her arms beneath Nepgear's sprawled out body and casually lifted her up. Another distant yet familiar sensation hit the beaten girl. The feeling of air rushing past her limbs, the delicate skin that touched her roughened body. Experiences that had seemed all too mundane to her, moments that she had long since forsaken for a world that no longer existed, she was made to recall these small, beautiful memories at the moment she took flight.

Staring up in a daze at Lowee's youngest CPU candidate, seeing her serious face as she flew with all her strength, Nepgear could only give out a relieved smile. Within this twisted, backwards world, she had finally found a source of comfort.

 _Whatever misunderstandings there have been…as long as someone, anyone is willing to listen…It's…not that bad…_

As her speed gradually dropped, so too did Nepgear's thinking. Very gently, she was deposited onto new ground. Yet again, without a word, the small child turned her face away from Nepgear.

"Rom…"

"I-It's not true, right?"

Rom finally spoke out. Her voice was small, her words unusually serious. Stood with her face hidden in the shadows, the young girl hesitantly began speaking.

"Huh…?"

"You wanting to use the sword on us…it's a lie, right? Why…would you even think of that? We were friends…weren't we? Why would you do that to a friend…?"

"I…Ah…"

Nepgear's voice cracked, unable to even form a reply. Rom's questions were simple, her language painfully childish. Yet it was because of that, she had been truly cornered. Faced with these overly simplistic questions made it all the harder for her to twist her way out of the problem. Staring up at Rom, Nepgear could see the disappointment quickly fill her eyes with each passing second of silence.

"W-Why? How could you do that to your friends…?"

Rom's voice had now faded into a stunned stutter, her small form had shrank down even smaller.

"S-so what about all the fun we had? All the times we spent together…? Is this what they call being used?"

"N-N…"

 _No…You're…wrong…_

There was little Nepgear could do but sit and watch as Rom's face twisted into an unreadable, complex expression. Her denial was caught in her throat. She couldn't bring herself to fight the truth, nor to hide behind another lie yet again.

"Why aren't you denying it?"

A slight irritation crept into Rom's voice.

"Say it's not true, just say no! Why aren't you even talking?!"

Faced with Nepgear's silence, her whisper suddenly raised into a scream.

"The Nepgear I know is a good person! Why did this have to happen?!"

"I-It had to be done…"

In a completely defeated voice, Nepgear finally muttered her reply.

"F-For our future…for the sake of everyone…it…was the only option…"

"I don't care! I don't care about any of that! Is it so important, that you had to kill us for it?!"

As Rom's shout echoed through the concrete maze that surrounded the both of them, Nepgear finally gave in. No more excuses. No more running. No more lies, no more hiding.

"I…I'm sorry…"

"This time, 'sorry' isn't enough."

With a silver glitter trailing from the corner of her eyes, Rom's small, white back took to the skies.

"Farewell."

Nepgear watched the young girl slowly rise into the navy blue night. Her heart seemed to sink to an even deeper depth. Without achieving anything, without having said anything, she had managed to lose yet another ally, yet another friend.

 _Rejected, yet again._

 _Betrayed, yet again._

 _How many times has it been?_

 _Why…do I even try?_

"A-Ah…"

Nepgear finally could take no more. Her vision clouded at its edges, the world's colours merged into a navy blue and grey smudge, her breathing was sharp and shallow. Absentmindedly casting her eyes down over her body, the only colour she could recognise was the pool of deep crimson.

Her vision had long since become unfocused, with colours rapidly fading into tones, before darkness engulfed her world yet again. A strange feeling, one of weightlessness assailed her mind. Lightheaded from her heavy wounds, it was only a matter of time before the last slivers of white faded from her monochrome world.

Once more, Nepgear was thrown into the darkness.

* * *

Within the darkness, Nepgear could finally, slowly come to grips with her surroundings.

 _What's going on in this world?_

Among the flurry of questions she had, the overriding question in her mind was undoubtedly this.

 _Why are they alive?_

Click.

 _Why are they trying to kill me?_

Click.

A vague sound echoed through her mind. With each click, her senses were restored. Bit by bit, she could feel her conscience return. Her hands suddenly felt the grit, her mouth tasted the bitter iron from her blood, the fleeting scent of Rom's hair mixed with her own pricked her nose.

 _What…is this all?_

Nepgear opened her eyes.

Light gradually seeped in through Nepgear's eyelids. Still lying on the floor, Nepgear blinked her eyes and heaved her beaten body up. Stumbling to her feet, she stretched her arms out, feeling her surroundings, searching for something to balance herself on. Her eyes eventually adapted to her dim environment, and it was only now that she could see how hemmed in she was. The darkness and the silence of narrow alleyway filled her mind with a familiar nausea.

"I've got to hand it to those girls."

Before Nepgear could even begin to understand her situation, another attacker arrived.

"Young as they are, they've got enough in them to see through your sickening act."

From behind her, a fluorescent green streak shot past. Had its trajectory been aimed slightly further left, it would have doubtless impaled her, ripping clean through her heart, killing her without leaving a trace of the weapon.

Nepgear staggered aside as the afterimage of the projectile flew by, crashing into the building in front of her.

With a violent explosion, the narrow entry into the building collapsed. At the same time, the sound of high heels clattering against the street reached Nepgear's ears. Unsteadily, she turned around.

The sight that greeted her tired eyes could only be described as being pure hostility.


End file.
